Sometimes the best plans are the totally unplanned ones. I’ve been promising my friend Janet Mendel (@Janet_Mendel) for ages that I would pop over to Mijas where she lives “the next time I’m in Málaga”… but it was looking like I was yet again not going to make it during my little Málaga Getaway this past week. Then two things happened to change that. First I ended up staying an extra night (long story) and then, while having brekky with Victor (@welovemalaga) during our impromptu Málaga Graffiti Tour on Friday morning, somehow the subject of Mijas came up and he asked if I’d like to go out there with him the next day. I’d just finished changing my train ticket to Saturday at 2 pm, which would get me back home at a reasonable hour so that I could unpack and relax a bit before heading out for my 8 pm tapas tour.  But of course I couldn’t pass up the chance to see Janet again, and Mijas for the first time, so off we went back to the station to change my ticket for the 5 pm train, which got me into town at 7.30. Ha. I didn’t even have time to go up to the apartment, so Peter met me downstairs with a clean shirt, which I changed in the entrance way, and I raced over to our meeting point, arriving just in time. Phew!

But more about our kwik-trip. Mijas a lovely little white village perched up in the coastal mountains about half an hour’s drive from Málaga. We met Janet at her favourite “breakfast” spot Café Bar Porra and had a nice plate of jamón with manzanilla to start our tapeo. It was fun for both me and Victor to have someone else be the “guide” for a change! And as Janet has lived in Mijas for more than forty years we couldn’t have had a better one. For our second stop we were taken to the beautiful Museo del Vinos, which has a short menu and also offers wine-pairings. We opted for some Botani and some lovely grilled scallops, and were also brought some fabulous olive oil with bread for dipping, and a bit of cheese. Lastly (we were beginning to run out of time!) Janet took us to a modern style “gastrobar” called Bodega El Placer. Here the tapas were a bit hit and miss. Some just had too much going on, like they didn’t know when to stop with the sauces and other squirty stuff all over the plates. My favourites were the more simple ones: the squid ink croquetas and the most perfectly fried egg I’d seen in quite awhile, served with hot straw potato and bits of jamón.

All too quickly it was time to head back to Málaga – missing the train home was NOT an option – but I am so happy that Victor took me there and back again. It was great seeing Janet and a bit of her village. I will definitely go back when I have more time (I promise Janet!).

You can read Janet’s blog post about our tapeo here:  Time out for Tapas